Professional Negligence Affidavits - Amendments. Defects in professional negligence affidavits filed with the complaint under OCGA § 9-11-9.1 may be cured by supplemental affidavits amending the original affidavit. Washington v. Georgia Baptist Medical Center, 223 Ga. App. 762 (1996). But see Deal v. Handson, 210 Ga. App. 499 (1993). S.B. 276, effective July 1, 1997, specifies the parties for whom professional negligence affidavits are required and allows defective affidavits to be amended.

Product Liability - Professional Negligence Affidavits. A strict liability claim alleging a defectively designed product does not require an affidavit of an engineer under OCGA § 9-11-9.1. S K Hand Tool Corp. v. Lowman, 223 Ga. App. 712 (1996). The Court left open the question whether a negligence claim based on defective design requires such an affidavit.

Evidence - Medical Narratives. H.B. 325 authorizes parties to introduce medical narratives (including opinions in them) into evidence in lieu of live testimony of medical professionals under certain circumstances.

Motions - Untimely Affidavits - Appeal. An appellate court may consider untimely affidavits unless the trial court has entered an order exercising its discretion not to consider the affidavit. Washington v. Georgia Baptist Medical Center, 223 Ga. App. 762 (1996).

Appeals - Direct or Discretionary. H.B. 291 authorizes the appellate courts to take jurisdiction over appeals that should have been commenced by notice of appeal (direct appeals) but that were erroneously commenced by application for discretionary appeal.

Workers Compensation Immunity. Overruling a case noted earlier, the Supreme Court held that workers' compensation immunity extends to preclude a tort claim that intentional failure to pay workers' compensation benefits exacerbated a work-related injury. Doss v. Food Lion, Inc., 267 Ga. 312 (1996).

Subrogation and Reimbursement of Insurance Payments. S.B. 280 prohibits reimbursement of first party insurance payments unless the plaintiff has been fully compensated for all other losses and provides procedures for determining the issue.

Insurers Insolvency. An award against tortfeasor whose insurer becomes insolvent must be reduced by uninsured motorist coverage that is available to the plaintiff, but not by uninsured motorist coverage that becomes unavailable because the tortfeasor's insurer becomes insolvent after the expiration of the statute of limitation on the uninsured motorist claim. G & MSS Trucking, Inc. v. Rich, 224 Ga. App. 130 (1996).

Workers Compensation. An employer may be required to provide an injured employee with handicap-accessible housing. Pringle v. Mayor of Savannah, 223 Ga. App. 751 (1996).

UCC - Unconscionability. The Supreme Court discussed procedural and substantive unconscionability and the factors involved in determining whether contracts are unconscionable under either standard in NEC Technologies, Inc. v. Nelson, 267 Ga. 390 (1996).

Deeds - Attestation. Reversing a case noted earlier, the Supreme Court held that a recorded deed provides constructive notice of the transaction, even if it has been defectively attested, if the defect is not apparent on the face of the deed. Leeds Building Products, Inc. v. Sears Mortgage Corp., 267 Ga. 300 (1996).